The Injustice
by peppermint-jazz
Summary: "She died as she lived; seeing only the good in people." Pre-Avengers leading up to Post-Avengers.
1. Prologue

0. Prologue

* * *

**APRIL 12, 2012**

* * *

"They just keep getting younger and younger."

The New York City mortician's bit into their lunches, wearing somber faces of indifference.  
The green of their home-made sandwich lettuce stood out in Stark contrast against grayscale colors of their traditional work environment.

The white walls were grimy and water damaged from years and years of sheltering disease ridden corpses and rainy days.

The two men nodded to themselves in silence.

"I've had just about all that I can take."  
One of them spoke, muffled by dry meat and bread.

The other sighed and lowered his elbows to his knees, resting his half eaten sandwich on the monochrome, disinfected autopsy table.

The lights were bright and blinding, leaving no room for shadows to mask emotions.

"What kind of person would let this happen to such a sweet, young lady."

"And how are we to know she was so kind, or that she did not deserve what has happened to her?"

"You know as well as I that there was something…different about this one. Something horribly wrong. Like an ancient injustice that will not go unpunished by whoever is responsible."

"And I suppose you are some sort of ghost whisperer now?"

"Only if that is how you choose to interpret my words."

They finished their sandwiches in silence.

"You have been working here alongside me for fifteen years, and not once have I heard you utter any words of remorse or philosophy. Please, enlighten me. Explain to me what you feel is so different about #14b's corpse."

The younger of the two morticians sat straighter in his chair, now resting his elbows on the autopsy table, and adjusted his horn rimmed glasses.

"All I am trying to point out to you and your padlocked brain is that—"  
"Excuse me, padlocked?"  
"Do not interrupt if you wish for me to explain my train of thought."  
"Very well. Continue."  
"As I was saying…Of all the people in the world that die of injustices grand and vast—trivial and complicated—hers is the most undeserved."

There was a pause of silence between the colleagues.  
The elder mortician combed over his partner's words for a moment.

"You sound as though you are a lawyer to her mortal soul?"  
"Ah, but if only such a thing were possible. My friend you laugh at me now, when not a single time in my career have I uttered a word of sympathy for any whom are dealt with such misfortune to be wheeled into these offices."  
"Which is exactly why I question your sanity and choice of words at this moment."  
"I understand your suspicions and I honor them by remaining unoffended. Neither of us believes in spontaneous insanity, and before this moment in my life I have never been so sure of anything that I have said."

The elder mortician leaned forward in his chair, rubbing his eyes and forehead in exhaustion.

"Alright my boy, we are running in circles with this conversation."  
"Yes, my apologies."

They sat in yet another prolonged silence, shifting uncomfortably in their monochrome rusted chairs.

" Doctor, when we pulled the sheet away from her face, I saw something, no I felt something."  
"What did you feel?"  
"It was almost as though I felt the purity of her soul. It broke my heart for all of five seconds."  
"Son, should I be concerned for you?"  
"I doubt you can be any more concerned than I am."

The elder mortician stood abruptly and threw his hands into the air.

"Enough of this."  
He scratched his balding head and pinched the bridge of his nose.  
"Jane Doe will be buried next week and until then I am giving you a vacation. Go spend some time with your wife and children."  
"Sir, you know as well as I that I have no such family."  
"Exactly."  
"Point taken, sir."  
"Good."

The elder mortician crossed the room to study a developing forensics X-Ray, jotting notes down into the specified case folder.

The younger of the two morticians stood up to leave, brushing off his labcoat.

He took one last look at the photo of Jane Doe #14b.

Her appearance in death was yet another injustice done to her, for she looked as though she had forgiven death himself for all of his past transgressions.

Death did not deserve forgiveness.  
Destruction deserved neither kindness nor mercy,  
And she did not deserve to make those kinds of decisions.

Dormant eyes remained staring into the bright intensity of the morgue's ceiling lights.  
She died as she lived; only seeing the goodness in people.

* * *

THIS WILL NOT BE ANOTHER STORY ABOUT LOKI FALLING IN LOVE WITH A HUMAN GIRL, CHANGING HIS WAYS.  
I RESPECT THOSE STORIES, AND READ THEM MYSELF, BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT YOU WILL FIND HERE.

-One of my goals is to author a story unlike any you have read.  
Allow me some sort of affirmation in this, please write reviews.

-There will be romance, possibly some/intense/ romance.

-Another goal of mine is to keep Loki as In Character as I possibly can.

-I've not written ANYTHING for more than a year, and I realize my writing skills are rusty at best.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


	2. Keep Your Enemies Close

01. Keep Your Enemies Close...

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**APRIL 12, 2010**

* * *

"Look, boys, the _bastard_ child of monsters and treachery approaches."  
Tenjiin, the General of the Chitauri race, barked, his teeth reared in an alien mockery of laughter.

Loki ascended stairs colder than the frosts of Jotunheim.  
His head was held high, despite such remarks, and his demeanor was one of nonchalance.

Loki stopped at the last step, his feet grounded in graceful defense.  
"So sayeth the lowly slave,_ salivating_ over desperate attempts at war."  
_"I am no slave, boy!"_  
Tenjiin rose from his seat on one of the many towering rocks surrounding them, ready to brawl.  
"And I am no common mule to be pushed around by your ill witted words."  
At this, Tenjiin withdrew.  
Loki watched the Chitauri general settle back down, his eyes never leaving the wretched creature.

"Speak, _Odinson_." Tenjiin's lip quirked, a smirk working at the corner of his mouth.

"I am no son of Odin, and if you value your limbs you will _never refer to me as such_, ever again."  
Loki's jaw set. This was getting to be a headache.

"I have no interest in your families quarrels, or lack thereof. You have summoned the Chitauri with promises of bloodshed and victory. You had better make good on your promises, _smooth skin_, or we will force them from you."

Loki's adrenaline picked up.  
He was stubborn and dignified, but he was no fool.  
The Chitauri General would have no problem ripping his flesh apart, layer by layer.

Loki prolonged the silence, it being his only channel of stubborness available. The black void of space functioned as a sea, and a sky, for this island of an asteroid. He pretended to be lost in thought gazing at the many stars.

"My broth-_Thor_..." Loki corrected himself.  
"Has made aware to me, the weakness of a particular planet. Midgard."

Loki took another step forward, catching himself pacing, as he continued.

"I will deliver to you the sequence of destruction for this planet, for only one thing in return."  
Loki looked at the center point of Tenjiin's face, where his eyes would be if he were more anatomically similar.

"Get on with it!"  
Tenjiin's patience was wearing thin, Loki sensed this.

"I want to be named king of this planet. I want to rule the inhabitants how I see fit, and I want no interference with them or myself when your battle is won."  
Loki felt a smirk of his own coming on.  
It would be a small bargain for the Chitauri.

Tenjiin reclined as much as he could against the rocks.

"You will be granted these conditions, as we will be granted our own."

Loki's smirk faltered.  
This didn't sound good.

"You will have an army, and you will have the planet to do with what you wish. We seek affirmation of this races _weakness_ beforehand, _god of lies_."  
Tenjiin rose again, advancing on Loki.

Loki remained where he stood, thinking over the General's words.

"What sort of enjoyment do you think I would get out of misleading you,_ General_?"  
"The same kind of enjoyment you get out of anything you have ever done. _Mischief. Treachery. Manipulation._"

Tenjiin stood a hands length away from Loki, leaning with his shoulders hunched towards him, in an effort to intimidate.  
Loki would not win this argument, so instead he asked the General, "What would you have me do?"

Tenjiin smiled, and the picture was ghastly.

"We are going to strip you of your magic. Your immortality will remain, but nothing else."  
Loki opened his mouth to protest, but Tenjiin barked out "Silence, _scoundrel_! I am not finished!"  
Loki remained silent, his eyes rolling in defiance.

"You will blend yourself in with these creatures. There will be nothing that we do not see or hear from your point of view. When we are satisfied with the information provided, we will summon you."

Tenjiin backed off, straightening his posture like some sort of alien Arnold Schwartzneggr.

"I will not pretend to enjoy these conditions, but I accept."

Loki lowered his brows in concentration, waiting for the sharp tug he was about to feel in his being.  
He had had his magic taken away hundreds of times before, all as a sort of punishment for bad behavior.

He was no stranger to the feeling, and no stranger to the frustrations that came along with it.

In the blink of an eye, a feeling hotter than the fires of hell rose through him, causing him to stumble to his knees.  
He maintained a stoic face, closed his eyes, and waited a moment longer for it to be over.

Tenjiin approached Loki, grabbing his shoulder and ripping him off of the ground with ease.

He placed one hand on Loki's forehead, the other remaining in a death grip on his shoulder.

"You will regret any treachery, and _should you fail us_-"

The General paused, leaning as if to whisper over Loki's shoulder.  
Tenjiin did not finish his sentence, but merely laughed.

In an instant-the General and his council were left on the asteroid.  
Loki would wake in Midgard with nothing but his intelligence and power of speech to aid him.

* * *

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Leave me a review!  
I will always return the favor :)

Things will start to progress at a much faster pace after this!

Constructive criticism is always welcomed.


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